OMSE heads into 2014 World RX championship with Ford, competitive young drivers show team’s commitment to future.
Championship Rallycross operation Olsbergs MSE is mounting a two-car campaign on the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship, presented by Monster Energy. The team will race into the season with its new driver roster at the first championship round early next month in Portugal. “It has been incredible to have grown with this series as it has developed into an FIA World Championship,” said Olsbergs MSE CEO Andréas Eriksson. “Our team is ready for this year’s challenge with a Ford Fiesta ST that is better than ever and a pair of young champions that represent the future of this sport.”
Debuting with the team this season is Andreas Bakkerud. The young Norwegian finished in fourth-place in his debut Supercar season in Europe last year, following back-to-back Rallycross Super 1600 titles in Europe. “It is great to be a part of the Olsbergs MSE team this season. It’s an organization that does everything 100 per cent and that makes me confident,” said Bakkerud. “It will be hard to win this year, but I will give it my all to fight to the last checkered flag in Argentina.”
Young Latvian Reinis Nitišs also joins OMSE’s Supercar effort, following his own dominant season in the 2013 Super 1600 championship in Europe and appearances in two GRC Lites contests in the United States. “I am proud to be a part of this team in World RX this season as I learn and develop from a Super 1600 driver to a Supercar driver,” said Nitišs. “After a few races we can say more about my goals. In Latvia we say: ‘You can count chickens in the autumn.'”
Latvian Reinis Nitišs is OMSE’s other SuperCar driver in the WorldRX series. © OMSE/ERC24
Two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm and British Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan work with the team as test drivers and driver coaches in 2014. The Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta Rallycross cars are class of the field at any race they enter. The powerful, 600-horsepower all-wheel drive machines are top performers that have scored countless wins and podiums at races around the world. The cars have benefited from an aggressive schedule of off-season testing and development and enter the 2014 World RX Championship stronger than ever before.
The first round of World RX in Portugal will also mark the start of the new RX Lites championship. The exciting new spec class is designed to foster future talent by leveling the playing field and focusing the race on driver success. It features identical 310 horsepower all-wheel drive machines purpose-built by Olsbergs MSE for the sport of Rallycross. The support series will join seven World RX rounds: Portugal, Great Britain, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Italy and Turkey. The winning driver will be reward with a drive in a 600 horsepower Supercar run by Olsbergs MSE at the World RX season finale in Argentina.
Olsbergs MSE is led by CEO Andréas Eriksson, himself a championship Rally driver and veteran Rallycross driver. He is supported by three-time European Rallycross Champion Jussi Pinomäki as co-team manager. In 2014, OMSE will campaign leading cars in the Global Rallycross Championship, the World Rallycross Championship, and the Rallycross Supercar Scandinavia Championship.
Top photo: Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud is debuting with the OMSE team. © OMSE/ERC24